Rajkot: In a bizarre incident, three men from a group of 11 alleged gamblers died after jumping into a well after a false alarm about a police raid triggered panic in the darkness around 3am on Tuesday at a farm in Kobadi village of Ghogha taluka in Bhavnagar districtThe deceased were Rahul Chauhan (35), Nilesh Dabhi (37) and Ajitsinh Sindha (45), all residents of Bhavnagar city.According to police, the group travelled from Bhavnagar to the farm — in the jurisdiction of Vartej police station — around midnight. Mid-game, a sudden scare of an impending raid caused the attendees to scatter into the pitch darkness.In the ensuing chaos, one person fell into the open well, which had been left uncovered. A second man attempted a rescue but slipped, managing to save himself by clinging to a nearby tree. Two others subsequently fell into the well while attempting to flee across the slippery terrain.Police received a distress call around 4am from the farm owner, who was also allegedly participating in the gambling. Upon arriving at the scene, authorities recovered three bodies from the water.Assistant superintendent of police (ASP) Ghanshyam Gautam categorically denied that Vartej police had raided the farm. He said that an accidental death case has been registered and postmortems are being conducted by a medical panel.“Preliminary inquiry reveals that last night, a group of individuals had gathered at the farm. One of them suddenly raised an alarm that that someone was present nearby. This created panic among those present, during which three individuals accidentally fell into the uncovered well in the dark and died,” ASP Gautam told TOI.Investigators are recording statements from the survivors to establish the exact sequence of events. Authorities are exploring multiple angles, including whether the alarm was sparked by some sudden noise or if the scare was caused intentionally by someone aiming to grab the wagered cash and flee during the commotion.
